1856]

SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH.

457

on the 3rd of September, 1856, issued an order for the suppression of disturbances, and appointed John W. Geary, of Pennsylvania, governor of Kansas, with full military powers for the accomplishment of this object. With Gov. Geary's arrival the war ceased, and order was gradually restored.

606. In the summer of 1856, it was proposed by an enterprising company to connect Europe and America with a submarine telegraph, by means of a wire sunk in the ocean. Communication having been thus established between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, surveys were made with the view of extending the line to the southwestern point of Ireland. The scheme was reported perfectly practicable, the line proposed being 1,640 miles long, and extending over a comparatively level surface at the bottom of the sea, in no part more than 24 miles in depth. After several unsuccessful attempts, a gutta-percha cable, enclosing the telegraph wire, was finally laid from Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, to Valentia Bay, on the coast of Ireland. This crowning triumph of human ingenuity was completed August 5th, 1858, and was celebrated with rejoicings on both sides of the Atlantic.

607. After the death of the great party leaders already noticed, the old dividing line between whigs and democrats gradually became less and less distinct; and, as new issues arose, new parties were formed. In 1853, the "Knownothings", or "Americans", first appeared in the field, their cardinal principle being opposition to foreign influence, and their motto that America should be ruled by Americans. This order rapidly spread, and in 1854 they were successful in most of the state elections. Many of the whigs joined them; while others, uniting with the free-soil democrats, organized a new party under the name of "Republicans". Three candidates thus appeared in the field at the presidential election of 1856. The democrats, who were in favor of letting slavery extend wherever it found its way by the voice of the what means was peace restored? 606. Give an account of the Atlantic Telegraph enterprise. When was it completed? How was the intelligence received? 607. What caused the formation of new political parties? When did the "Know-nothings" first appear? What was their cardinal principle? With what success did they meet? What became of the whig party? How many candidates for the presidency appeared 20

people, nominated James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania; the republicans and a section of the American party supported John C. Fremont, of California; the rest of the Americans voted for ex-president Fillmore, of New York. The campaign, which was a most exciting one, resulted in the election of Mr. Buchanan to the presidency, and John C. Breckenridge, of Kentucky, his fellow-candidate on the democratic ticket, as vice-president.

608. Mr. Buchanan was born April 13th, 1791, in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. He was educated for the law, and began his public career in the legislature of his native state. at the age of twenty-three. In 1821 he was elected to the house of representatives. He continued a member of that body till 1831, when he was appointed minister to Russia by President Jackson. On his return, he was sent to the U. S. senate, where he retained his seat till President Polk invited him into his cabinet as secretary of state. In 1853, he was appointed by Gen. Pierce minister to Great Britain, in which capacity he resided at London till 1856.

609. Mr. Buchanan was inaugurated on the 4th of March, 1857, and appointed Gen. Lewis Cass, of Michigan, secretary of state.

in the field in 1856? Name them. Which was successful? Who was elected vicepresident?

608. Give a sketch of Buchanan's previous history. When was Mr. Buchanan inaugurated? Whom did he appoint secrotary of statə ?

PRESENT CONDITION OF THE UNITED STATES.

Ir may not be uninteresting in conclusion to glance at the present condition of our country, its growth in population, and its advance in art, science, and internal improvements.

The first census was taken in 1790; at which time the whole population was found to be 3,929,827. In 1850 it had increased to 23,191,876. Our commerce has expanded at a still more surprising rate, our exports in the same space of time having increased from twenty to two hundred millions of dollars. In 1855, 2,030 vessels were built in the U. S., being double the number constructed in 1845.

To the United States belongs the honor not only of first employing steam as a motive-power in boats, but also of first using it in ships for ocean navigation. The first steamer that ever crossed the Atlantic was the Savannah, launched at New York in 1818. She proceeded to Savannah, made her way safely to Europe in 1819, and visited various ports, in all of which she was an object of general interest. Notwithstanding the success of this experiment, it was not till 1838 that a regular line of steamers commenced crossing the Atlantic. Previous to that time, sailing packets alone were used, and the average length of a trip from Liverpool to New York was thirty-three days, the shortest time ever made being twenty-two. The first trip of the British steamer Great Western (April, 1838) was performed in fourteen days; and since then, by successive improvements, the running time in favorable weather has been reduced to eleven, and even less than ten, days. U. S. ship-builders have produced some of the finest models afloat; in no department of industry have our enterprising mechanics been more successful.

The first railroad in the United States was completed in 1827. Since then, the work of internal improvement has been prosecuted so vigorously that iron roads thread the Union in every direction and bind together its principal cities and towns. In 1854, over 21,000 miles of railroad

were in operation, and 17,000 were in process of construction. A company has been formed for the purpose of building a road from the Atlantic to the Pacific; and there is no doubt, that, in spite of the vast difficulties to be encountered, this gigantic enterprise will finally be carried through.

In no country is labor so highly respected and so well remunerated as in the U. S.; and in none, therefore, are the working classes so happy, and we may add enlightened. No restrictions are laid on industry; political privileges are extended to all; and the humblest citizen may raise himself to the proudest position in the republic. Our mechanics have brought a high degree of ingenuity as well as skill to their work; and through their means America has become justly famous for her inventions and improvements. Among a host of things that might be mentioned, it is undeniable that the best locks, life-boats, printing-presses, and agricultural implements, come from America.

The labor of opening up the resources of a new country has as yet left the people of the United States little time and opportunity for cultivating literature and the arts. Yet we point with pride to our metaphysician, Edwards; our lexicographer, Noah Webster; our mathematicians, Bowditch and Rittenhouse; our naturalists, the Audubons; our novelists, Irving and Cooper; our historians, Prescott and Bancroft; our poets, Bryant and Longfellow; our sculptors, Powers and Greenough; our painters, Copley, Stuart, Trumbull, Vanderlyn, Allston, Peale, and Sully.

If there is one thing, on which, more than all others, America may pride herself and found high hopes of stability for her glorious institutions, it is her system of common schools. She offers the advantages of education to the young without money and without price, convinced that their enlightenment is her best safeguard. She seeks, as Webster has said, "by general instruction to turn the strong current of feeling and opinion, as well as the censures of the law and the denunciations of religion, against immorality and crime". That she may succeed in thus making her institutions eternal is the prayer of every friend of liberty.

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE,

PASSED JULY 4, 1776.

▲ Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled.

WHEN, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present king. of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having, in direct object, the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world:

He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.